aws-database-backup

name	aws-database-backup
description	Expert guide for backing up AWS databases including Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Aurora, MS-SQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. Use when planning or executing database backup operations, retention policies, or restore procedures. Covers Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) upload security.

AWS Database Backup Skill

Security: Always ensure backup configurations meet or exceed the security configuration of the source resources. Refer to SECURITY.md for security requirements.

Overview

This skill covers database backup strategies using AWS-native services and advanced CLI techniques for Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon Aurora, MS-SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more.

Amazon RDS Automated Backups (Recommended)

Enable/Modify Backup Retention

# Enable automated backups with 30-day retention
aws rds modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier <db-id> --backup-retention-period 30 --preferred-backup-window "03:00-04:00" --apply-immediately --region <region>

# Verify backup settings
aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier <db-id> --query 'DBInstances[0].{Retention:BackupRetentionPeriod,Window:PreferredBackupWindow,Status:DBInstanceStatus}' --region <region>

Manual Snapshots

# Create manual snapshot
aws rds create-db-snapshot --db-instance-identifier <db-id> --db-snapshot-identifier "manual-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)" --region <region>

# Wait for completion
aws rds wait db-snapshot-available --db-snapshot-identifier "manual-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)" --region <region>

# List snapshots
aws rds describe-db-snapshots --db-instance-identifier <db-id> --query 'DBSnapshots[*].{ID:DBSnapshotIdentifier,Status:Status,Created:SnapshotCreateTime,Size:AllocatedStorage}' --output table --region <region>

Cross-Region Backup Copy

# Copy snapshot to another region for DR
aws rds copy-db-snapshot --source-db-snapshot-identifier arn:aws:rds:<source-region>:<account>:snapshot:<snap-id> --target-db-snapshot-identifier "dr-copy-$(date +%Y%m%d)" --region <target-region>

Export Snapshot to S3

# Export snapshot to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) in Parquet format
# Customer responsibility: Verify the target Amazon S3 bucket has Block Public Access enabled and a bucket policy enforcing TLS-only access before starting the export. The export task encrypts data using the AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) key you specify.
aws rds start-export-task --export-task-identifier "export-$(date +%Y%m%d)" --source-arn arn:aws:rds:<region>:<account>:snapshot:<snap-id> --s3-bucket-name <bucket> --iam-role-arn <role-arn> --kms-key-id <kms-key> --region <region>

Aurora Backups

Cluster Snapshots

# Create cluster snapshot
aws rds create-db-cluster-snapshot --db-cluster-identifier <cluster-id> --db-cluster-snapshot-identifier "aurora-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)" --region <region>

# Copy cross-region
aws rds copy-db-cluster-snapshot --source-db-cluster-snapshot-identifier arn:aws:rds:<source-region>:<account>:cluster-snapshot:<snap-id> --target-db-cluster-snapshot-identifier "aurora-dr-$(date +%Y%m%d)" --region <target-region>

Aurora Backtrack (MySQL-compatible)

# Enable backtrack on cluster (up to 72 hours)
aws rds modify-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier <cluster-id> --backtrack-window 86400 --apply-immediately --region <region>

# Backtrack to specific time
aws rds backtrack-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier <cluster-id> --backtrack-to "2026-03-11T10:00:00Z" --region <region>

Aurora Cloning (Fast Copy)

# Create clone for testing/backup verification
aws rds restore-db-cluster-to-point-in-time --source-db-cluster-identifier <cluster-id> --db-cluster-identifier "clone-$(date +%Y%m%d)" --restore-type copy-on-write --use-latest-restorable-time --region <region>

MS-SQL Backups

RDS SQL Server Native Backup to S3

Security: The examples below use -P to demonstrate syntax. In production environments, use Windows Authentication (-E flag), SQL Server configuration files, or retrieve credentials from AWS Secrets Manager: PASS=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id <secret-id> --query SecretString --output text); sqlcmd -S <endpoint> -U <user> -P "$PASS". Command-line passwords are visible in process lists and shell history. See SECURITY.md.

# Enable native backup/restore (requires option group)
aws rds add-option-to-option-group --option-group-name <og-name> --options "OptionName=SQLSERVER_BACKUP_RESTORE,OptionSettings=[{Name=IAM_ROLE_ARN,Value=<role-arn>}]" --region <region>

# Execute native backup via SQL (run through sqlcmd or ssms)
# sqlcmd -S <endpoint> -U <user> -P <pass> -Q "
# exec msdb.dbo.rds_backup_database
#   @source_db_name='<dbname>',
#   @s3_arn_to_backup_to='arn:aws:s3:::<bucket>/backups/<dbname>-$(date +%Y%m%d).bak',
#   @type='FULL';"

# Check backup status
# sqlcmd -S <endpoint> -U <user> -P <pass> -Q "exec msdb.dbo.rds_task_status @db_name='<dbname>'"

Advanced: sqlcmd CLI backup (self-managed SQL Server on EC2)

Pre-Backup Diagnostics (run via sqlcmd before any backup)

Pre-backup diagnostics (read-only queries to verify disk space and backup history before starting new backups). When implementing similar queries that accept user input, use parameterized queries or stored procedures to prevent SQL injection.

-- Check database file sizes and free space within each file
SELECT [File Name] = name,
  [File Location] = physical_name,
  [Total Size (MB)] = size/128.0,
  [Free Space (MB)] = size/128.0
    - CAST(FILEPROPERTY(name, 'SpaceUsed') AS INT)/128.0,
  [Type] = type_desc
FROM sys.database_files;

-- Check disk volume free space (critical: verify enough room for backup file)
SELECT DISTINCT dovs.logical_volume_name AS LogicalName,
  dovs.volume_mount_point AS Drive,
  CONVERT(INT,dovs.available_bytes/1048576.0) AS FreeSpaceMB
FROM sys.master_files mf
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_os_volume_stats(mf.database_id, mf.FILE_ID) dovs
ORDER BY FreeSpaceMB ASC;

-- Review backup history (last 7 days) to understand current backup state
SELECT
  CONVERT(CHAR(100), SERVERPROPERTY('Servername')) AS Server,
  msdb.dbo.backupset.database_name,
  msdb.dbo.backupset.backup_start_date,
  msdb.dbo.backupset.backup_finish_date,
  CASE msdb..backupset.type
    WHEN 'D' THEN 'Database'
       
    backup_type,
  msdb.dbo.backupset.backup_size,
  msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily.physical_device_name,
  msdb.dbo.backupset.name  backupset_name
 msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily
    msdb.dbo.backupset  msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily.media_set_id  msdb.dbo.backupset.media_set_id
 ((datetime, msdb.dbo.backupset.backup_start_date, )  GETDATE()  )
  msdb.dbo.backupset.database_name, msdb.dbo.backupset.backup_finish_date ;

# Full backup
sqlcmd -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -Q "BACKUP DATABASE [<dbname>] TO DISK='D:\backups\<dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).bak' WITH COMPRESSION, CHECKSUM, INIT"

# Transaction log backup
sqlcmd -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -Q "BACKUP LOG [<dbname>] TO DISK='D:\backups\<dbname>_log_$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M).trn' WITH COMPRESSION"

# Customer responsibility: Verify the target Amazon S3 bucket has Block Public Access enabled and default encryption configured before uploading backups
aws s3 cp "D:\backups\<dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).bak" s3://<bucket>/mssql-backups/ --sse aws:kms --region <region>

Advanced: PowerShell backup for Windows EC2

# Full backup with compression and verification
Backup-SqlDatabase -ServerInstance "<host>" -Database "<dbname>" -BackupFile "D:\backups\<dbname>_$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd).bak" -CompressionOption On -Checksum
Restore-SqlDatabase -ServerInstance "<host>" -Database "<dbname>" -BackupFile "D:\backups\<dbname>.bak" -VerifyOnly

MS-SQL BCP (Bulk Copy Program)

Customer responsibility: The examples below use $SQLCMD_PASSWORD environment variable. In production, use Windows Authentication (-T flag), SQL Server credential files, or retrieve credentials from AWS Secrets Manager: export SQLCMD_PASSWORD=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id <secret-id> --query SecretString --output text). Hardcoded passwords in scripts are visible in version control history and process listings. Use Windows Authentication (-T flag), SQL Server credential files, or retrieve credentials from AWS Secrets Manager as shown above.

BCP exports/imports data between SQL Server and flat files. bcp out exports (source unchanged), bcp in imports (appends by default). Use native format (-n) for speed or character format (-c) for portability. Large operations consume network bandwidth and disk I/O — plan for off-peak hours on production systems.

Export Table to File

# Native format (fastest, SQL Server to SQL Server only)
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" out /tmp/<table>.bcp -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n

# CSV format (portable)
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" out /tmp/<table>.csv -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -c -t, -r\\n

# Tab-delimited with first row as header
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" out /tmp/<table>.tsv -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -c -t\\t

# Export with query (selective data — validate date input before use)
DATE="2026-01-01"
if [[ ! "$DATE" =~ ^[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}$ ]]; then echo "Invalid date format"; exit 1; fi
bcp "SELECT * FROM <dbname>.dbo.<table> WHERE created_at > '$DATE'" queryout /tmp/<table>_recent.csv -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -c -t,

Import File to Table

# Import native format
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.bcp -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n

# Import CSV
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.csv -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -c -t,

# Import with batch size (commits every N rows, reduces lock duration)
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.csv -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -c -t, -b 10000

# Import with error file (captures rejected rows)
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.csv -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -c -t, -e /tmp/bcp_errors.log -m 100

Cross-Server Migration with BCP

# Export from source
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" out /tmp/<table>.bcp -S <source-host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n

# Upload to S3 as intermediate storage
aws s3 cp /tmp/<table>.bcp s3://<bucket>/mssql-bcp/ --sse aws:kms --region <region>

# Download from S3 (AWS CLI is designed to use HTTPS by default; verify your network configuration allows HTTPS connections)
aws s3 cp s3://<bucket>/mssql-bcp/<table>.bcp /tmp/<table>.bcp --region <region>

# Import to target
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.bcp -S <target-host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n

BCP with Format Files (Complex Schemas)

# Generate format file (reusable mapping between file and table)
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" format nul -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n -f /tmp/<table>.fmt

# Use format file for import (handles column mapping, skipping columns, type conversion)
bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.bcp -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -f /tmp/<table>.fmt

BCP Performance Tips

# Parallel export: split by ID range and run concurrent bcp processes
for i in $(seq 0 9); do
  bcp "SELECT * FROM <dbname>.dbo.<table> WHERE id % 10 = $i" queryout /tmp/<table>_part${i}.bcp -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n &
done
wait

# Hint: disable indexes before bulk import, rebuild after
# sqlcmd -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -Q "ALTER INDEX ALL ON <dbname>.dbo.<table> DISABLE"
# bcp "<dbname>.dbo.<table>" in /tmp/<table>.bcp -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -n -b 50000
# sqlcmd -S <host> -U <user> -P "$SQLCMD_PASSWORD" -Q "ALTER INDEX ALL ON <dbname>.dbo.<table> REBUILD"

MySQL Backups

mysqldump (Recommended for logical backups)

# Full backup with routines and triggers
# Customer responsibility: Use mysql_config_editor or --defaults-file with chmod 600 instead of -p on the command line
mysqldump -h <host> -u <user> -p --single-transaction --routines --triggers --events --set-gtid-purged=OFF <dbname> | gzip > <dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# All databases
mysqldump -h <host> -u <user> -p --single-transaction --routines --triggers --events --all-databases | gzip > all_dbs_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# Upload to S3
aws s3 cp <dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz s3://<bucket>/mysql-backups/ --sse aws:kms --region <region>

mysqlpump (Parallel dump)

mysqlpump -h <host> -u <user> -p --default-parallelism=4 --databases <dbname> | gzip > <dbname>_pump_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

Advanced: xtrabackup (Physical backup, near-zero downtime)

Customer responsibility: Protect database credentials by using --defaults-file with restricted permissions (chmod 600) instead of --password on the command line. Before streaming backups to Amazon S3, verify the target bucket has Block Public Access enabled and default encryption configured.

# Full physical backup (on EC2 with local MySQL)
xtrabackup --backup --target-dir=/backups/full_$(date +%Y%m%d) --user=<user> --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf

# Prepare backup
xtrabackup --prepare --target-dir=/backups/full_$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Incremental backup
xtrabackup --backup --target-dir=/backups/inc_$(date +%Y%m%d) --incremental-basedir=/backups/full_$(date +%Y%m%d) --user=<user> --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf

# Stream and upload to S3
xtrabackup --backup --stream=xbstream --user=<user> --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf | gzip | aws s3 cp - s3://<bucket>/xtrabackup/full_$(date +%Y%m%d).xbstream.gz --sse aws:kms --region <region>

Advanced: mydumper (Multi-threaded logical backup)

mydumper -h <host> -u <user> -p "$DB_PASSWORD" -B <dbname> -t 8 -c -o /backups/mydumper_$(date +%Y%m%d)
myloader -h <target-host> -u <user> -p "$DB_PASSWORD" -B <dbname> -t 8 -d /backups/mydumper_$(date +%Y%m%d)

PostgreSQL Backups

pg_dump (Recommended)

# Custom format (compressed, parallel restore)
pg_dump -h <host> -U <user> -Fc -Z 6 <dbname> > <dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).dump

# Directory format (parallel dump)
pg_dump -h <host> -U <user> -Fd -j 4 <dbname> -f /backups/<dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Plain SQL
pg_dump -h <host> -U <user> -Fp <dbname> | gzip > <dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# Upload to S3
aws s3 cp <dbname>_$(date +%Y%m%d).dump s3://<bucket>/pg-backups/ --sse aws:kms --region <region>

pg_basebackup (Physical backup)

# Full physical backup with WAL
pg_basebackup -h <host> -U <repl-user> -D /backups/base_$(date +%Y%m%d) -Ft -z -Xs -P

# Stream to S3
pg_basebackup -h <host> -U <repl-user> -Ft -Xs -D - | aws s3 cp - s3://<bucket>/pg-base/base_$(date +%Y%m%d).tar --sse aws:kms --region <region>

Advanced: pgBackRest (Enterprise-grade)

# Configure pgbackrest.conf then:
pgbackrest --stanza=<stanza> --type=full backup
pgbackrest --stanza=<stanza> --type=diff backup
pgbackrest --stanza=<stanza> --type=incr backup

# Verify backup
pgbackrest --stanza=<stanza> check
pgbackrest --stanza=<stanza> info

AWS Backup Service (Unified)

Create Backup Plan

# Create backup vault
aws backup create-backup-vault --backup-vault-name "db-backups" --region <region>

# Create backup plan
aws backup create-backup-plan --backup-plan '{
  "BackupPlanName": "daily-db-backup",
  "Rules": [{
    "RuleName": "daily-rule",
    "TargetBackupVaultName": "db-backups",
    "ScheduleExpression": "cron(0 3 * * ? *)",
    "StartWindowMinutes": 60,
    "CompletionWindowMinutes": 180,
    "Lifecycle": {
      "MoveToColdStorageAfterDays": 30,
      "DeleteAfterDays": 365
    },
    "CopyActions": [{
      "DestinationBackupVaultArn": "arn:aws:backup:<target-region>:<account>:backup-vault:dr-vault",
      "Lifecycle": {"DeleteAfterDays": 365}
    }]
  }]
}' --region <region>

# Assign resources to plan
aws backup create-backup-selection --backup-plan-id <plan-id> --backup-selection '{
  "SelectionName": "all-rds",
  "IamRoleArn": "<backup-role-arn>",
  "Resources": [
    "arn:aws:rds:<region>:<account>:db:*"
  ]
}' --region <region>

On-Demand Backup

aws backup start-backup-job --backup-vault-name "db-backups" --resource-arn arn:aws:rds:<region>:<account>:db:<db-id> --iam-role-arn <role-arn> --region <region>

List and Monitor

# List backup jobs
aws backup list-backup-jobs --by-state COMPLETED --by-resource-type RDS --region <region> --query 'BackupJobs[*].{Resource:ResourceArn,Status:State,Created:CreationDate,Size:BackupSizeInBytes}' --output table

# List recovery points
aws backup list-recovery-points-by-backup-vault --backup-vault-name "db-backups" --region <region>

Automated Backup Scripts

Cron-based backup rotation (Linux)

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
# /usr/local/bin/db-backup.sh
DB_HOST="<host>"
DB_USER="<user>"
DB_NAME="<dbname>"
S3_BUCKET="<bucket>"
RETENTION_DAYS=30
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)

# Dump
if ! mysqldump -h "$DB_HOST" -u "$DB_USER" --single-transaction "$DB_NAME" | gzip > "/tmp/${DB_NAME}_${DATE}.sql.gz"; then
  echo "ERROR: Backup failed for ${DB_NAME}"
  exit 1
fi

# Upload (verify bucket has Block Public Access enabled and default encryption configured)
aws s3 cp "/tmp/${DB_NAME}_${DATE}.sql.gz" "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/mysql/${DB_NAME}/" --sse aws:kms --region <region>

# Cleanup local
rm -f "/tmp/${DB_NAME}_${DATE}.sql.gz"

# Cleanup old S3 backups
aws s3 ls "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/mysql/${DB_NAME}/" | while read -r line; do
  file_date=$(echo "$line" | awk '{print $1}')
  file_name=$(  | awk )
   [[ $( -d  +%s) -lt $( -d  +%s) ]]; 
    aws s3  
  

Snapshot cleanup (delete old manual snapshots)

# Delete RDS snapshots older than 90 days
aws rds describe-db-snapshots --snapshot-type manual --region <region> --query 'DBSnapshots[?SnapshotCreateTime<=`'$(date -d '-90 days' -Iseconds)'`].DBSnapshotIdentifier' --output text | tr '\t' '\n' | while read snap; do
  echo "Deleting $snap"
  aws rds delete-db-snapshot --db-snapshot-identifier "$snap" --region <region>
done

Restore Procedures

RDS Restore from Snapshot

aws rds restore-db-instance-from-db-snapshot --db-instance-identifier "<restored-db>" --db-snapshot-identifier "<snap-id>" --db-subnet-group-name <subnet-group> --region <region>

Point-in-Time Restore

aws rds restore-db-instance-to-point-in-time --source-db-instance-identifier <db-id> --target-db-instance-identifier "pit-restore-$(date +%Y%m%d)" --restore-time "2026-03-11T14:00:00Z" --region <region>

MySQL Restore from dump

gunzip < <dbname>_20260311.sql.gz | mysql -h <host> -u <user> -p <dbname>

PostgreSQL Restore

pg_restore -h <host> -U <user> -d <dbname> -j 4 --no-owner <dbname>.dump

Backup Verification Checklist

• Test restores regularly (at least monthly)
• Verify backup integrity with checksums
• Monitor backup job completion via CloudWatch or AWS Backup
• Verify cross-region copies for DR
• Validate encryption at rest (KMS keys accessible in target region)
• Document RTO/RPO for each database
• Set up SNS alerts for backup failures

Data Security for Backups

• Customer responsibility — Encryption at rest: Configure --sse aws:kms for all Amazon S3 uploads. Enable encryption for Amazon RDS snapshots. Use --kms-key-id when copying snapshots cross-region.
• Customer responsibility — Encryption in transit: AWS CLI is designed to use HTTPS by default; verify your configuration. For native database tools, customers must explicitly configure encryption using --ssl-mode=REQUIRED (MySQL) or sslmode=require (PostgreSQL). For SQL Server, use Encrypt=yes in connection strings.
• Customer responsibility — S3 bucket security: Before uploading backups, verify the target Amazon S3 bucket has Block Public Access enabled, default encryption configured, versioning enabled, and a bucket policy enforcing TLS-only access.
• Credential handling: Use IAM roles with temporary credentials. For database credentials, use AWS Secrets Manager or mysql_config_editor / --defaults-file. See SECURITY.md.
• Backup integrity: Verify backup checksums after creation and after cross-region transfer.

S3 Bucket Security Setup

# Enable Block Public Access on bucket
aws s3api put-public-access-block --bucket <bucket> \
  --public-access-block-configuration "BlockPublicAcls=true,IgnorePublicAcls=true,BlockPublicPolicy=true,RestrictPublicBuckets=true" --region <region>

# Enable default encryption (SSE-KMS)
aws s3api put-bucket-encryption --bucket <bucket> \
  --server-side-encryption-configuration '{"Rules":[{"ApplyServerSideEncryptionByDefault":{"SSEAlgorithm":"aws:kms","KMSMasterKeyID":"<kms-key-id>"}}]}' --region <region>

# Enable versioning
aws s3api put-bucket-versioning --bucket <bucket> \
  --versioning-configuration Status=Enabled --region <region>

# Enforce TLS-only access via bucket policy
aws s3api put-bucket-policy --bucket <bucket> --region <region> --policy '{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [{
    "Sid": "DenyInsecureTransport",
    "Effect": "Deny",
    "Principal": "*",
    "Action": "s3:*",
    "Resource": ["arn:aws:s3:::<bucket>", "arn:aws:s3:::<bucket>/*"],
    "Condition": {"Bool": {"aws:SecureTransport": "false"}}
  }]
}'

IAM Policies for Backup Roles

Customer responsibility: Create and configure IAM roles with least-privilege permissions for backup operations. The <backup-role-arn> and <iam-role-arn> placeholders in this guide require IAM roles with specific permissions. Replace wildcard resource ARNs (*) with specific resource ARNs for your environment. At minimum:

AWS Backup service role needs: backup:StartBackupJob, backup:StartCopyJob, rds:CreateDBSnapshot, rds:CopyDBSnapshot, s3:GetObject, s3:PutObject, kms:Decrypt, kms:GenerateDataKey — scoped to the specific backup vault, S3 bucket, and AWS KMS key ARNs.

SQL Server native backup role needs: s3:PutObject, s3:GetObject, s3:ListBucket, s3:GetBucketLocation — scoped to the specific S3 bucket ARN used for backups.

Use IAM Access Analyzer to generate least-privilege policies based on actual usage. Review IAM policies quarterly and remove unused permissions.